Medicaid already problematic

Thursday , March 06, 2014 - 11:07 AM

Jim Albertson

Editor,

How many times do we have to hear from the editorial board that Obamacare is the law of the land and it berates us that this is “reform” (March 13, “A Medicaid temper tantrum”). Obamacare was sneaked through in the middle of the night while telling the citizens that they had to pass it before they can know what’s in it. And, the truth today is we still do not know the extent of the law. The liberals had to provide rank political payoffs to get their own side to vote for it. The American people still cannot be convinced that it’s an improvement over what we already have, even after they loaded up-front the positives, like young people staying on parents’ health plans until 26. We’ve not been told about the new taxes and restrictions which come later and the impact on jobs.

I give our Legislature a pat on the back for standing up to prevent Utah from participating in such a disaster. The governor wants time to study the total effect. If I were the chief executive, I’d want to know, too. Why? Because Medicaid is broken and states have to balance their budgets. What we need is reform, not expansion. It’s no secret to the informed citizen that we now have a long history of research showing Medicaid participants getting worse assess and care outcomes that privately insured individuals.

The editorial writer ignores facts and problems in favor or more government, more spending and higher taxes in the name of reform. What Utah needs is a state-developed plan that works for the needs of this new population, not a one-size fits all from the federal government.

And now for the Standard’s scare tactics, its “unconstitutional.” Give us a break, more and more of us are reading the Constitution today. We found it a short read and loaded with powerful concepts and protections.